One of the most controversial provisions of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (the “Adam Walsh Act”) states that, in any criminal proceeding, child pornography “shall remain in the care, custody, and control of either the Government or the court.” (18 U.S.C. § 3509(m)(1)). Another provision, ...

Here the Court held that a defendant who pled guilty of committing a crack offense in 2009 but who was not yet sentenced on November 1, 2010, is entitled to be sentenced under the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 - setting up a conflict with other courts.

U.S. v. Santana, ...

Here, in a mundane procedural ruling, a unanimous Court held that prison officials who were defendants in a civil rights lawsuit may not appeal an order denying summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds once there has been a full trial on merits.

The highly technical procedural issue in this case ...

Here the Court affirmed its jurisdictional authority to award of $300,000 in damages for past and future emotional distress in a Federal Tort Claims Act action against the Government arising out of an armed home invasion of the wrong home.

In the early morning hours of February 25, 2004, a ...

This decision is noted because it contains one of the most comprehensive and current analyses of the history and development of the Federal Unjust Conviction Statute (“UCS”), which is now codified at 28 U.S.C. § 2513. Although the present version of § 2513 was enacted in 1948, the UCS actually ...

Here the Court held that a number of defendants who committed crimes involving crack cocaine before the enactment of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 were not entitled to the benefits of that Act at sentencing - a ruling that conflicts with other courts.

U.S. v. Santana, No. 09-cr-1022 (S.D.N.Y. ...

Here the Court became the first Circuit to affirm the payment of restitution by a defendant convicted of downloading child pornography to the victim after finding that the defendant’s possession of the images “proximately caused” the victim’s losses.

In this case, the Eleventh Circuit became the first Circuit Court to ...